Surgical bandage



July 26, 1949.

D. R. BRADY SURGICAL BANDAGE Filed Nov. 24, 1944 INVENTOI Q. .ZZAVJD F.BRADY Patented July 26, 1949 David R. Brady, Detroit, Mich, wassignor:to

0wens+Coming aFiherglas' 'florporation a coryporation of DelawareApplication November 24, 1944, "Serial N 095643386 My invention relates:to H surgical ibandages, dressings, wound :packs, and the like.

It i-is anobiectof "the invention to provide substantially non-absorbentsurgical bandages of non-toxic material. The non-absorbent mature ofthew-bandages raids inthe healing of wounds, burns and ulceratedconditions :since it does not disturb or remove irom the injured-surfacethe exudate which naturally icoagulates and terms the iaschar. Whilebeing substantially non-absorbent the bandage of the present inventionis sufiiciently porousto act similar to previous bandages in iholdingthexsaid exudate in the neighborhood lot the surface of the wound,permitting coagulation and healingto take place. A

Itis a further object of the invention to provide surgical bandagesdevoid of projecting iiber ends and fuzz that would permit the 'hea/lingtissues or granulating surface 101: a wound or burn to mesh hightemperatures and moisture so that they may i,

be sterilized at temperatures in excess of those permissible withpresent day bandages, and to provide bandages that will not shrink whensub- ;iected to: moisture at elevated temperatures.

These properties permit the bandages to be rea used.

It is another object of the invention to provide bandages having theseproperties and made of materials that are inert and will not affect nor"be affected by the usual medicinal substances employed in conjunctionwith the bandages.

Referring to the drawing:

1 Figure 1 .is a perspective view of a bandage of the present inventionin use;

' Figure 2 is a perspective view of aroll of "bandage embodying thepresent invention;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary-perspective view of a compressionband-agewmade in accordance with the present invention; and

Figure 4 is a perspective elevational view or .a bandage .in the form.of a pad to be used asa drain wick or pad.

The invention is applicable to all of the types of bandages, dressings,and wound packs :as presently used. It maybe employed for dressing andtreating most of. the types of wounds, burns and ulcers requiringbandages, dressings, and packs, and may be used with superior results in-conjunction with all of the present medicaments and drugs ,now appliedwith cotton bandages.

"li he present invention provides a bandage in the-term of a fabric ofinterwoven fibrous glass. The weave may be of any desired type and ispreferably' mcderately tight, and the cloth may be of any desiredthickness although atorease of application relatively thin cloths ofabout '1 to t2 mils thickness are usually preferable.

The fibrous glass is most desirably of the type sold as continuousfilament glass fibers. 'FIh-ese fibers are made by continuously drawingout small streams of moltenglass by means of :a 1'0- tating drum to formfilaments which are collected in strands on the drum, with the filaments:extending substantially continuously throughout the length of thestrand. The strands are twisted and plied to form yarns and the yarnswoven into cloths in the conventional way. The individual filamentsextend substantially throughout the major dimensions of the cloth sothat cloths made from this type of fibrous glass are smooth and freefrom fuzz and projecting fiber ends. Bandages made from this clothexhibit little tendency for the healing tissues of the granulatingsurface to mesh with the fibers of the cloth.

The .smooth glass fibers and the smooth yarns resulting from the'intertwisting of these fibers of continuous lengths provide a fabricwhich will deform readily under biasing tension to canform tobodycontours and closely overlie injured areas.

The non-hygroscopic nature of the glass fibers provides a bandage thatis substantially nonabsorbent so that the exudate from a wound or burnis .not absorbed by the bandages and removed ,from the surface of thewound. At the same time thecpores of the clolthand the tiny intersticesbetween the fibers in the yarns and the spaces between the yarns makingup the cloth act to hold the exudate at the surface of a wound or burnto permit coagulation and thus facilitate healing; V

The same property of the glass fiber bandagew prevents the, soaking upof medications and drugs in such large proportions as to be asubstantial loss. Only :small amounts of medicaments are taken up in theinterstices of the glass .fiber bandage, and even these are quicklyreleased, so that the major proportion by far of the substanoesappliedwith the bandage are readily available to the wound.

Figure :1 shows a bandage lllin use. The bandage shown comprises wovenglass fiber cloth ll wrapped several times about an injured member tZ.-Suitable means 7 such as gauze, tape or adnating material should, ofcourse, be pliable and non-toxic and have a fairly high resistance totemperatureialthough the fact that it may soften under elevatedtemperatures is not a-seriousobjectiion sincethe softened or liquifiedimpregnant will be held in place by thelmeshes of the cloth. Substancessuch as latex, silica cement cornpou id, plasticized vinyl acetate andvinyl chloride polymers and copolymers, vinylidene chlor de, and variousother materials available as synthetic rubber, may be employed toimpregnate-the fabric by brushing, spraying, or rolling a solution ofthe substance onto the fabric in the regions desired.

A'roll I5 of bandage. I6 made in this way is illustrated in Figure 2;The bandage l6 of interwoven glass fiber yarns is impregnated alongbands [1 extendinglengthwise of the bandage and along bands 18 extendingcrosswise of the bandage. The bands may be spaced as desired dependingon the kinds of; bandages intended and ordinarily are spaced apart aboutsix inches so that the bandage may be out along thermpregnated regionsto form a piece six inches square as the smallest bandage or to'formpieces that are multiples of this smallest. piece. The bands usuallyneed be only about one-half inch in, width. 1 1

The bandage of the present invention may be used alone, or incombination with :cotton gauze by applying the fibrous glass bandagedirectly over the Wound with or without the application of a medicamentthereto and then binding the fibrous glass bandage in place with awrapping of gauze or other cotton material. In this application theadvantages flowing from the smooth fibrous glass cloth are realized andthere is also a substantial decrease in the absorbency of the entirebandage due to the spacing of the cotton material from the wound by theinterjacent fibrous glass. In certain cases where a still lowerabsorbency is required or where for other reasons it is preferable todispense with ali cotton, the

entire bandage may consist of several mappings of fibrous glass held inplace with tapes of woven glass fibers or by means of adhesive tape inthe ordinary way. If desired the adhesive tape, too, maybe formed of aribbon of interwoven fibrous glass coated with the conventionalpressuresensitive adhesive.

Theinvention is also applicable to compression type bandages ordressings of the kind that are ordinarily used for skin graftingcompression cushions, or where various medicaments are appliedtopically, as for the application of saline or Dakins solution. It isalso applicable to compression dressings used for preventing or retard--ing pain by exerting pressure on the injured. area, to allay shock, andto aid healing of the epi thelium.

In such use of the invention, the glass fiber cloth is applied directlyto the wound surface and an absorbent material such as cotton orcellulose sheets is applied over the cloth to absorb exudate from theinjured-area where the exudate contains toxic substances or where it isdesired to collect the exudate for analysis. In this application theabsorbing material is separated from the surface of the wound by theglass cloth so that there is little opportunity for the healing tissuesto contact the fuzzy absorbing material 'and intermesh therewith. Thissame arrangement of dressing is useful' where it is desired to applysaline or-other solutions to the surface of the injured area. In such acase the solution or other medicament is applied to the absorbentmaterial which acts as a reservoir to retain the solution and feed it tothe surface of the injured area through the glass cloth, the glass clothacting as a filter or screen and preventing engagement between theabsorbent fibrous material and the surface of the injured area. i

Figure3 illustrates a compression bandage or dressing made by enclosingloosely felted fibrous material 2| between two layers 22, 23 of fibrousglass cloth. The fibrous material may be held in place by quiltingstitches '24 passing either through both layers of the cloth or throughone layer of the cloth and the fibrousmaterial where it is desired tomaintain 'a perfectly smooth surface on one face of thebandage. Thequilting is done preferably by employing a thread of fibrous glass butcotton, silk or other threads may be used if desired. The fibrous filler2| of the bandage may consist of cellulose such as that sold asCellucotton, cotton fibers,. mechanics waste, or the like, or may beformed from mats of haphazardly arranged fine glass fibers loosely;felted to provide a flexible highly resilient fibrous body. In thelatter case the all glass compression bandage has the advantage ofinertness of inorganic substances. ,7

Similarly to the bandages previously described, the compression bandagemay be supplied in rolls which may be cut into pieces of the requiredsize at the time of use. Also as in the case of the previously describedbandages, the fabric facings of the compression bandage may beimpregnated along bands 28, 29 corresponding with the desired lines ofcut to avoid raveling of the cut edges of the fabric.

In the cases both of the fibrous glass bandage backed up with absorbentmaterial and in the case of the quilted compression bandage lastdescribed, it is usual to hold these in place over the injured area bywrapping with a water-proof flexible material such as thin, wide stripsof resinous materials such as plasticized vinyl acetate'or vinylchloride polymers and copolymers.

The invention also provides wicks or packs used for drainage of wounds.In this case the fibrous glass in the forms of loosely aggregatedfibers, or strands or yarns loosely bundled together, are arranged as awick to be packed into the opening of the wound to draw exudate from theopening by capillary action. The loosely'aggregated fibers as well asthe strands or yarns are preferably arranged in parallelism to insurethe desired capillarity.

An arrangement of the fibers in this way is shown in Figure 4. Here thepad 3| is illustrated in the form of a flat pad of glass fibers allarranged in substantial parallelism and extending lengthwise of the pad.This arrangement of the fibers may result from any suitable operationsuch as'combing or carding a mass of glass fibers to arrange them insubstantial parallelism, or by winding the fibers, or yarns or strandsof the fibers, on a drum or creel and then cutting the package of fibersthus formed and unrolling it to form a flat pad.

In the latter case and when glass fibers of the continuous filament typeare employed, the pad contains a multiplicity of fibers extendinglengthwise of the pad throughout the full length thereof to provide aneffective medical drain pack. The freedom of the pack from fuzz is ofparticular value in this case, where the pack is normally placed in veryintimate relation with the healing tissues. The pad may be outtransversely or divided lengthwise to provide packs of any desired size.

The glass fibers to be incorporated in the packs are advantageously madefrom a lead-containing glass, of which there are many, so that thefibers will be opaque to X-rays. This permits an X- ray examination of ahealed or partly healed wound as a check to determine whether anyfibrous material has been allowed to remain in the healing wound.

I claim:

1. Surgical bandage material comprising a plurality of layers of fabricof interwoven glass fiber yarns, and an absorbent pad of intermattedfibrous glass interjacent said layers, said pad of fibrous glass beingformed of loosely felted fibers and having substantial flexibility andresilience so that the bandage material may be rolled up.

A surgical bandage in the form of a fabric piece. adapted to be suppliedin rolls and applied as covering or wrapping to parts of the human body,the fabric comprising closely associated glass fibers, all of theindividual fibers extending REFERENCES The following references are ofrecord in the file of this patent:

UNITED PATENTS Plumber Name Date 582,926 Johnson May 18, 1897 1,569,955Falter Jan. 19, 1926 2,152,012 Albion Mar. 2-3, 1939 2,154,499 CoughlinJuly t, 1939 2,184,899 Shand Dec. 26, 1939 2,190,431 Lewison Feb. 13,1940 2,319,019 Van Court May 11, 194.3 2,356,456 Garner Aug. 22, 1944"FOREIGN PA'IENTS Number Country Date 26,799 Great Britain July 15, 1899511,166 Great Britain Nov. 3, 1937 OTHER REFERENCES Fiherglas Standards,Owen-Corning Fiberglas Corp, G 9.6.1 (Sept. 3, 1943); D 5.5.1 (June 1,1944).

Architectural Forum, Nov. 1942, p. 116.

Reprint from Surgery, St. Louis, vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 766-773, May 1944,GI Fab.

